Kristin Bachman (USA) riding the 10-year old gelding Gryffindor won the 12th leg of the FEI Eventing World Cup held at Rebecca Farm near Kalispell, MT (USA). The qualifiers best Dressage test (47.6 points) put her in the lead from the very beginning, which she firmly kept despite 4.4 time penalties in an otherwise faultless Cross Country and two Show Jumping rails down. This is the first victory in a premier international competition for the 32-year old rider, who took also part in the FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier held at Temecula, CA in March where she placed 13th. As a result, Kristin collects 109 World Cup points (100 at Kalispell and 9 at Temecula) and takes the 8th place in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings.

She is followed by fellow American Gina Miles, silver medallist in the 2003 FEI Eventing World Cup final, on McKinlaigh with 67.4 points. She was strongly penalised by average Dressage (53.8 points) and 12 penalties in the Show Jumping test, which could not be compensated for by an excellent run across country (1.6 time penalties). Gina finishes on a score of 67.4 penalty points. Her runner up position brings her 60 World Cup points, which added to the 30 points scored at Temecula where she had placed 4th, puts her in equal 15th position in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings.

Nineteen-year old Lauren Whitlock from Rohnert Park, California, follows Kristin and Gina on the podium. She is 3rd on the 11-year old Thoroughbred gelding Kipling with a final score of 73.6 points. Lauren is the only one of two riders to perform a clear Cross Country which only partly counterbalanced her Dressage test (61.6 penalities) and 3 disappointing rails in Show Jumping. Similarly to Kristin and Gina, Lauren also competed at Temecula where she claimed 25 World Cup points which, added to the 40 points she earned at Kalispell, put her in 17th position in the FEI Eventing World Cup standings

A detailed report on the event along with photographs can be found on the competitions website http://www.eventatrfarm.com . The full results are available on http://www.eventatrfarm.com/results-04-sun/3STAR-FINAL.PDF

Action was no less exciting at the Antipodes, in the beautiful Australian bush, where Sonja Johnson on Ringwould Jaguar brilliantly won her second FEI Eventing World Cup qualifier at Warwick, Queensland (AUS). Sonja, who was 2nd after Dressage with 46.7 points (68.84%), displayed gritty determination in her Cross Country ride and was one of only three rider-horse combinations to perform a clear round. She finished on her Dressage score, having no penalties in the Jumping test. Sonja is the only rider with two victories and with 200 points, she firmly takes the lead of the FEI Eventing World Cup standings.

Sonja is followed by Shane Rose on Beauford Miss Dior, who similarly to Sonja went for a faultless Cross Country. However, 50.2 penalty points after Dressage and 4 after Jumping place her in runner up position with a final score of 54.2 points. Boyd Martin on Brady Bunch is 3rd with 57.8 points.

After 13 qualifiers, the leaderbord of the FEI Eventing World Cup is as
follows:
1. Sonja Johnson (AUS)  200 points
2. Linda Algotsson (SWE) - 190 points
3. Andreas Dibowski (GER)  134 points
4. Darren Chiacchia (USA)  123 points
5. Andrew Hoy (AUS)  120 points
6. Matthew Grayling (NZL)  118 points
7. Phillip Dutton (AUS)  110 points
8. Kristin Bachman (USA)  109
9. Viktoria Carlerbäck (SWE)  104 points
10. Andrzej Pasek (POL)  101
11. Robyn Fisher (USA)  100
11. R. de Gouveia Jr. (BRA)  100
11. Pippa Funnell (GBR)  100
11. Pavel Sergeev (RUS)  100

The 14th and 15th FEI Eventing World Cup legs are held this weekend, 30 July 1 August, in Hardwick (Over the Walls) (USA) and Lulworth (GBR). These are the last qualifiers before the outstanding Markopoulo facilities host the equestrian events of the XXVIII Olympiad.